Posted on by Marilyn Herman

Music by Contemporary Women Composers

Music by contemporary catherine

Including my “Vocalise” for Flute, Oboe and Clarinet in Bb.  (My surname only has one of each letter!)  Called “Vocalise” because I set out to write a “Vocalise” for voice and clarinet – but it took on a life of its own (as these things do), and became a work more suited to instrumental forces – winds.  But I retained the title.  I can’t wait to hear it performed by these superb musicians!  And I love the atmosphere of the venue!

If there is a soprano out there who feels she would like to give the flute part a go, that would be great too!  I would love to hear that!

Also, great that this concert is contributing towards putting women composers on the map.  Women have been grossly ignored in the world of classical composition throughout its history.  Today, when there is no shortage of women composers, there is no excuse.  Just a couple or so years ago, not a single work by a woman composer was played throughout the entire summer prom series!  And in the days when massive CD stores were still gracing the West End’s main streets (London), I went into the largest classical CD section to be found in a CD store in London (Tottenham Court Road) and could not find a single CD featuring works by women composers.

Posted on by Marilyn Herman

Bell or Pas Belle!

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I came across Michelle Thomas’s blog:  Tinder Date – it just appeared on my computer screen and I clicked on it – about some creepy man she dated who specifically wanted her to know (by lengthy text) that he felt unable to fancy her (to put it delicately) unless she were a “slip of a girl”.  (It does sound like a grown woman is not what he’s after!  Does he need to read Susie Orbach’s Fat is a Feminist Issue!)

It reminded me of a boyfriend at the age of 20 who said to me:  “Honestly!  If you just lost a couple of stone, and you wore a pair of tight jeans, you’d walk across the room and you’d be irresistible!”  If I’d lost a couple of stone, I think I would have been close to skeletal, and I don’t think that was what he actually wanted!

It also reminded me of a poem I recently unearthed while searching for something, which I wrote a long time ago, based on a conversation with some French-speaking guy – not the same one I refer to in Artichoke Heart (earlier blog).  I use the name “Chantelle” mainly because it rhymes so perfectly with “belle”, but apart from that, I used to be known as Chantelle in folk clubs back in the day!  As for him – appropriately enough – I have not the slightest recollection of his name!  I hesitated to publish this on my blog for a few reasons, including:  reluctance to reveal inaccuracies in my French (apart from poetic licence); reluctance to expose the fact that my poetic writing doesn’t stand alone without music!  Yes – I would have written this with the purpose of singing it in folk clubs – but fortunately (perhaps) I didn’t sing it anywhere!  So here it is!

Tu n’es pas belle, Chantelle

Il regardait mes yeux, et il me dit

Pourquoi, dis-moi, tu te pas maquilles?

Je répondis, c’est la moi réelle

J’ai pas besoin d’être trop belle

Mais tu n’es pas belle, il dit, Chantelle

Tu n’es pas belle, Chantelle

*

Tu n’es pas belle, Chantelle, Chantelle

Tu n’es pas belle, Chantelle

Je trouve que tu es laide, en effet

Tu rassembles un peu à Madame Thacher

Mais tu n’es pas belle, Chantelle, Chantelle

Sauf que t’es triste, Chantelle

*

Tu m’attires à cause de ton scent

Ton parfum, peut-être, ou ta lotion

Tes cheveux sont beaux, comme un bébé ta peau

Et tu es spéciale dans ton genre

Mais tu n’es pas belle, Chantelle, Chantelle

Sauf que t’es nue, Chantelle

*

La beauté se trouve dans ma famille

Ma mère, ma soeur – elle est très exotique

Mon père était beau, comme moi, ainsi

Je ne te plais pas?  Je dis oui

Car je savais la peine de:  tu n’es pas belle

Pense-pas que t’es belle, Chantelle

*

Et dans le miroir, l’image tout clair

Laide comme le péché, un visage sévère

La beauté à voir vient de dedans

Mais la beauté dedans peut fuire dans un moment

Non, tu n’es pas belle, je me dis, Chantelle

C’est vrai, t’es pas belle, Chantelle

*

Et dans le marché, et dans la rue

Les vendeurs de légumes, les vendeurs de fruits

La sueur qui tombe de leurs fronts comme ils crient

Pour que t’achètes pas de son voisin, mais lui

Tu n’es pas belle, j’entends, Chantelle

Pense-pas que t’es belle, Chantelle

Tu n’es pas belle, mais laide, tu sais

Tu rassembles un peu à Madame Thacher

Et tu n’es pas belle de tout, Chantelle

T’es laide et pas belle, Chantelle

***

M. Herman

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